CVHP joins National Surgical Quality Improvement Program

Posted on Apr 24, 2014

Covina, Calif. – Citrus Valley Health Partners is proud to announce
that it is the region's first community hospital system to join the
National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP), a nationwide initiative
aimed at improving the quality of surgical care.

Sponsored by the American College of Surgeons (ACS), NSQIP is the first
nationally validated, outcomes-based program measuring surgical data with
a goal of reducing post-operation mortality and morbidity and reducing
the length of patient stays in hospitals after surgery.

Citrus Valley Health Partners (CVHP), which operates four hospitals and
a hospice, is the first comprehensive hospital system in the San Gabriel
Valley to join NSQIP. As part of the program, nurse reviewers collect
data from general or vascular surgical cases that meet certain criteria,
and sends the information to a national NSQIP database, where it is monitored
and analyzed.

"We are very excited to be joining this prestigious program,"
said CVHP President & CEO Rob Curry. "Participation assists us
with the development of best practice guidelines in areas such as prevention
of pulmonary complications, sepsis and other post-surgery infections.
Most importantly, it provides our team with valuable guidance in ways
to improve outcomes."

Physicians across the organization are supportive of CVHP taking this step
because it will help them in their efforts to improve patient care and
patient safety. "Studies have shown that NSQIP hospitals prevented
250 to 500 complications per hospital, per year and 66 percent of those
hospitals saw improvement in their mortality levels," said Dr. Khan
Hameed, a physician champion of NSQIP and CVHP surgeon who is helping
to spearhead the launch. "NSQIP is good for the hospital and it is
good for our patients."